Windward Bound
by WerlynTellsNoTales
Summary: So far just a little dabble in dragon PoV flying with a 2nd person anon rider. Rating might change, depending on what I want to do (and what you want me to do) with the story. hey look i posted something, are you proud of me?


**Heya guys - This chapter was based on daydreaming while listening to the song 'Jake's first flight' from the 2009 avatar soundtrack, although that's not really related to the content. Hope you enjoy!**

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The frigid, silken air gently brushes across your face and over your shut eyes like cool water. Even as I carry you into the skies, the rhythmic beating of my wings and heaving if my chest carries you into a trance. All fear is forgotten, and you timidly open your eyes to catch a glimpse the tiny, tiny world far below. Our world no longer framed by monumental mountains, the horizon stretches further than you have ever seen. A herd of clouds roll through the sky to the east, bumbling, blue-white behemoths, and you see why I always preferred likening them to elephants over sheep. You marvel at their indifference; they do not care what goes on on the ground so far beneath, and why should they? It doesn't affect them, even as it no longer affects us, soaring through the deep blue skies as we are.

An unexpected bolt of turbulence tears you from your thoughts and reminds you who and where you are. A spell of vertigo overcomes you and you grip the neck-spike in front of you with both hands. I swing my head around and smile apologetically. The movement disrupts the flow of air over your head, and you realize that before, you would not have even noticed such a slight change. But up here, it was a matter of life and death. "The sky is your friend, but only so long as you respect it. This freedom and responsibility is what I live for!" I whisper, adjusting for the difference in airflow with a flick of my tail. "Are you ready? It's about to get serious," I say, excitement building in my thoughts. You check the knots on the rope holding you on my back one more time, swallow, but nod determinedly. "Then let's do this."

Weightlessness takes over as I fold my wings and we enter a shallow dive. The calm breeze begins to burn, turning into a tempest as we pick up speed. The wind's howl is interlaces with my own as I loose a trail of grey smoke from each nostril, which form dark ribbons that flutter playfully by your feet. There is a flicker of motion at your periphery, and you turn your head to see my wings slowly extend to their fullest as we begin to pull out of the dive and into a near vertical climb. Your vision darkens as the forces pull the blood from your head, just as I said they would. You remember what I told you, calmed your breathing and clenched your legs. Almost immediately, the feeling clears, leaving you to once more take in the sights.

Shooting like a rocket into the sky, my wings are folded at my sides again. When we have almost bled out all our speed, I throw my tail upwards, the air shrieking in protest as it eddies over my fluke. We start spinning in a backflip, and a few disorienting rotations later, we level out. As the world stops spinning, you find yourself wrapping both arms around my neck.

Above, where the sky should be, the hilly terrain sprawls to the horizon. Falling with my back to the ground and my wings bent by the wind, I release a bugle of joy. After a few seconds your fear gives way to thrill once more and you force yourself to let go with your hands, trusting your legs and the rope to keep you secure. My wingtips leaving vortexes of condensation, I whirl back around and my flight membranes pop back into position like the sails of a galleon, muscles and bones creaking like coarse wood under the strain. Gliding and giggling, I giddily rock my wings from side to side.

The sun sets slowly, setting the sky alight with a thousand sizzling stars. We slip through the air, our backs turned to the daystar, as darkness covers the world below in its cold embrace. A calm breeze swishes through the trees, but otherwise the land is wholly still, undisturbed by the worries of day. The only motion is us, a ripple in an otherwise undisturbed sea of calm tranquility. A curtain of cloud falls over the sky and I tilt my tail up, raising my nose towards the heavens.

Tiny droplets of water condense on my skin as we rise through the clouds, giving my scales a gilded, gem-like appearance as they reflect the waning light. Utter blackness surrounds us as we fly through the layer of cloud, but my sense of balance is undiminished, and I do not lose my bearing. Soon, the black turns to a dull grey, then a wispy white. Before long, we breech the later of cloud as a whale might breech the sea, the last few tendrils of vapour clinging possessively to my wings and limbs. The moon shines down with her fey light, a perfect disc, benevolent and magnificent, giving the clouds a ghostly touch of life. A lone wanderer, we fly toward her like moths to light, drawn in and trapped by her rainbow-white beams, flying ever closer, ever higher, until the air becomes too thin to breathe and no longer supports our immutable ascent. As you wrap yourself in your arms, cold and tired, I slide through the night sky and angle back home. Content, you fall asleep in the saddle with a lazy smile, deciding that life is prettyyy goooood…

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**Any ideas as to where I should take this concept are appreciated. Should I write more stand alone chapters for different songs, or write this chapter into a longer story? Shoutout to TRikiD, as always!**


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